Seven Years Gone - Dog Years are More Complex

RandomFactor writes:

Conventional wisdom has long been that one dog year was equal to seven human years. Now it appears that reality is not so simple.

[A] new equation developed to measure how a dog ages finds the family pup may be a lot older than we realize.

Researchers studying chemical changes to canine DNA found that dogs age very quickly during their first five years and much more slowly later on.

The findings, published recently in the journal Cell Systems, calculate that a 5-year-old dog would be pushing 60 in human years.

The new equation is far less intuitive than multiplying by seven: 16 ln(dog age in years) + 31 = human age in years, where "ln" is the natural logarithm function.

Using that equation:

• a 1-year-old dog is like a 31-year-old human;
• a 3-year-old dog is like a 49-year-old human;
• a 7-year-old dog is like a 62-year-old human.

By this time, dog aging has slowed down, so an 8-year-old dog is like a 64-year-old human.

Research was done by comparing methylation marks on dog and human DNA over time.

Read more of this story at SoylentNews.